For starters, “Simple Math” is a concept album, with 10 songs that sequentially tell the story of a 23-year-old man questioning his marriage, his fidelity and his faith.

That 23-year-old would be lead singer and songwriter Andy Hull.

Except, not exactly.

The themes were inspired by Hull’s experience of going on an extended road trip six months after he got married, coming home to a strained relationship and eventually rediscovering the love for his wife that he began with.

“It’s about me; I’m a character in this thing, and it’s drawing from all this real stuff,” Hull explained. “But it’s definitely fictional, with things that I wouldn’t say. And that’s kind of the way that you take it from being just a dramatic, sad story to being able to explore different themes. ‘Well, what if this would have happened in the story.’ You know, there’s a song about a miscarriage, and I’ve never gone through that. But it’s a ‘What if?’”

“There are all these different little shades and fractions in the songs, they are all puzzle pieces to this record.”

The “Simple Math” puzzle begins with a few relatively breezy and self-deprecating songs. It noticeably shifts into another gear on “April Fool,” which is where the you-know-what hits the fan in the album’s storytelling. Each song seems to reach a new level of intensity until you reach the climatic title track. Then it gradually brings you back down to finish the storytelling.

“I think the way the record works is, it’s supposed to get better every song. Each song is supposed to take another step up, until the last song, which should be kind of like the joint at the end of the evening,” Hull said. “The sigh of relief, of like, ‘Oh, OK, we’re done.”

“Simple Math” song by song

Manchester Orchestra lead singer and songwriter Andy Hull wrote the songs on “Simple Math” to tell a sequential story. Here’s a look at the theme behind each song, in Andy’s own words.

Deer: The beginning of the story, and the end of the story all in one. It references the very first problem to kind of an understanding of it. It’s a foreshadowing or an intro. You know, beware.

Mighty: A bunch of different pictures and memories of distressing times. The lines “Cats Cradle and hail to the Rat King/Teeth sharpened on our broken bones” are talking about selling your soul for shows.

Pensacola: The second part is about friends that you only can hang out with now when you drink, because you can only talk about old times. And it’s also about touring and battling my own ego. I really try not to have any kind of ego. I kind of address my hope of not ever becoming the (expletive) person I know I could easily become. That so many people become in this industry.

April Fool: I remember the day I came home from England and it was like, my life wasn’t there. And that was April 1st. That was the birth of realizing it’s all not so good anymore. You get your head so wrapped up in what you do. She was starting a job and I was doing a record. And the biggest thing we found is that marriage is just so much about serving one another and not expecting anything back. That’s really what the song is about.

Virgin: A three-part idea of losing your virginity, releasing your second record and the loss of innocence. That’s why the kids sing on it to, it’s referencing me as a kid.

Leave It Alone: About a car ride and a conversation between me and my wife.

Apprehension: A fictional telling of a miscarriage, as if I was looking further down the road to when we have kids one day and how I feel that I would handle that. I’m getting to the place where that’s starting to happen with my friends. I’m 24, so it’s one of those things where you become more of an adult and you realize there’s heavier (expletive) to come.

Leaky Breaks: The counterpart to Deer, where it’s wrapping up the same story that Deer starts with.